Recently I've decided to spread the nerd funds to more than just video games.. by spending on video game related figures...

Not a lot mind you because frankly the reason I never really purchased figures before was for the simple fact that I'd rather spend that money on games instead.

However, with the recent inclusion of the Big Daddy figure in the Collector's Edition of Bioshock I've decided that I want in.

Before last week the only video game related figures I owned were the Big Daddy and the Lost Planet pre-order bonus vital suit figure that I recieved from my good friend that works at Gamestop. (Who also, I failed to mention, hooked me up with the BioShock goodie package that the GS managers received.)

Yeah Boy!

These items were all free of charge so to speak, but I actually took the plunge and actually purchased some figures of my own.

The very first figure that I've actually spent money on is the Crimson Head zombie from Resident Evil by NECA.

It also came with a Cerberus which can be seen in the humble beginnings of my current figure collection.

This display is of course tentative, because the Crimson Head is rather tall compared to the Big Daddy, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about that at the moment.

If I do say so myself, the new additions look totally rad and I have no regrets on the transfer of funds that took place to acquire them. In fact, on the way I have a couple Kratos's, some Warcraft and more Resident Evil junk.

My goal is to display them in such a way that other people will realize my nerdiness. Perhaps this is best done at the place of employment. I haven't quite decided yet.

Other than wasting more money on plastic, I've been playing a lot of the CoD4 beta--and I'm afraid I do mean a lot. The in game tracker states I have spent around 20 hours answering the Call of Duty for the 4th time. Yikes. If you don't have a beta key yet, try to snag one of Gamespot's and then we can play together!

I was "FINNALY" able to pick up a Hori arcade stick for the 360 the other day.

I missed out on the Dead or Alive 4 version that was released before I got a 360, and I was not about to spend more than retail for one. So I waited for this baby to hit. Technically it's the Virtua Fighter 5 version, but thankfully it only came with stickers as proof as such. I will be keeping mine devoid of any such items however and it will remain nice and clean.

I'm looking forward to getting some DoA4 practice with it as well as the slew of arcade games I need to test it out on.

I really, really like arcade sticks. I bought two of the Agetec sticks on the Dreamcast because of all the lovely 2D fighters on that system.

(x2--the other one is gutted in preparation for a possible upgrade to Sanwa Denshi innards.)

I got the Virtua Stick on the Saturn solely for Virtua Fighter 2.

Honestly, I don't remember playing much else with it on that poor system.

And who could forget the NES Advantage stick? Countless hours were spent on this bad boy shootin' up aliens in Contra or taking down Shredder.

Notice the turbo knobs position--play your games right people! (yeah right)

And it's "Super" version. If I was playing Street Fighter II or any of it's variants at home, I was using the good ol' Super Advantage.

The Most useful upgrade on this piece of hardware was the "Slow" button, which logically just repeatedly paused the game for you. Best used on Turtles in Time or any Konami game with that phenomenal pause melody.

Unfortunately I didn't ever get into fighters or any game on the PS2 to warrant an arcade stick purchase. This was mainly do to me getting the system so late in it's life cycle.

The next stick on agenda is the Hori Fighting Stick for the Wii as I just learned that it is interchangeable with the Cla ssic (censored!) Controller. I figure I will fall in love with that when Brawl is released; not to mention the Virtual Console fun that could be had.

Now I just wish I was actually decent at the types of games that are best played with sticks. I think I'll work on that right now...

BioShock is tomorrow and I need to clean!

Is it weird that my cleaning schedule revolves around game releases and videos?

I'm not one to buy used games.

I'm the type of guy who prefers to buy the game brand new and I will usually pay the extra money to snag the sealed copy.

However, on older games I have to bend my rules a bit as a lot of the games are nearly impossible to find new, and in the rare event one of these games are new they cost a ridiculous amount of money. In the past I was willing to pay that absurd sum (things like a sealed copy of Valkyrie Profile--the most I've ever spent on a video game.) If I couldn't do that I'd try for the next best thing, a mint and complete copy of the game.

But lately I've been sucking it up and buying cart only items at a local place. And I have to admit. It feels good.

Now don't get me wrong, I still have quality standards and so far I've been pretty lucky on the condition of the stuff I've grabbed.

Today I picked up:

and

Now Simon's Quest did come with the manual (which came attached via rubber band), but there is something liberating about buying just the game.

Maybe it's the fact that when I spent all the money to buy complete and new versions of old games I wasn't doing it so much to actually play the game. Rather it was more of a collecting position than anything I guess.

The way I look at it I have several benefits to this new method.

*Buying games this way I feel more compelled to actually play them--and so far it works. I must've played a solid 2 hours of Zombies Ate My Neighbors today before I had to get to ****

*Games are much cheaper this way (although some can still be rather pricey).

*Even though I'm not buying them complete I am still able to "collect" more games this way. Currently I'm working on all of the NES light gun games (so far I have 7 of the 17).

I think I must go through phases in my game purchasing. Sometimes I feel more like a "collector", other times more like a "gamer." All I know is that games are meant to be played, and buying older games this way just feels more pure than shelling out the big bucks unnecessarily for a game that I might not actually play.

I'm hoping I'm not alone in some of this, what are some of your buying habits?

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Soon.

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Had some trouble with the render, but here is Episode 8. I'm going to go puke.

I'll take it.

I'm still pouring over the thought of purchasing a PS3 in the next couple of weeks. With the price drop and the current Blu-Ray deal I just might take the plunge a little earlier than I anticipated.

I definitely have some thinking to do before I make a decison though. Maybe E3 will shed some light on things and guide me to a conclusion.

In the meantime I'll be mulling over my other big decision of buying a new TV--perhaps one that does that there High Definition deal.

"What's that you say? Princess Zelda is in trouble? Sure, I'll be there in a minute..."

Let me begin by saying I love the Legend of Zelda franchise. I'll be the first to admit that it's one of my all-time favourites. Why then, have I not beat.. er.. started Twilight Princess?

To be honest, your guess is probably as good as mine, because I honestly and truly have no idea.

It could be several things. It could be that I just love Okami way too much (I finished it right around the time TP was released). Perhaps that experience was just too close to perfection that I don't want to start TP for fear I will be disappointed.

Maybe I just want to do too many other things. Like get all of the Dead Rising achievements, or beat GoWII on Titan mode, or play the Dark Brotherhood questline in Oblivion, or play more handheld games.

Actually, I have done a lot of stuff already before tackling Zelda, a potentially new favourite game. I compiled a list of all the games I've beat and/or completed since purchasing my Wii and Zelda.

Tomb Raider: Legend (1000/1000)
Gears of War (twice)
Kameo: Elements of Power
Prey
Dead Rising (three times)
Rainbow Six: Vegas
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (completed)
Earth Defense Force 2017 (5 times plus change)
Ninety Nine Nights
God of War II
Crackdown (1250/1250)

I'm also in the middle of Oblivion and I just started Kingdom Hearts the other day. Two games I know I will finish before even attempting to save Zelda.

I hate to say this, but maybe Zelda has become too hyped for me to enjoy properly. In fact, after typing that I:

1) seriously hate myself for using the word hyped to pertain to my personal tastes in games
2) think this is probably the case.

I have a good friend of mine who bugs me all the time about this whole situation. He knows how much I loved Ocarina and is as baffled as anyone should be that I haven't touched the next installment.

The truth is though, I'm OK with not having played it. I mean look at that list. Pretty much every game on that list was a blast to play. That doesn't count the countless hours of multiplayer Gears and Vegas and Warcraft III I've enjoyed as well, or the XBLA games I've poured my time into. I guess I just feel that Zelda is not the end all be all of video games and that list is my way of subconsciously assuring myself that fact.

I really feel I shouldn't be struggling over this at all though--I mean it's just a game. I should just play it and move on.

I'm sure I'll get around to it eventually...